Take notes, because this will be on the test. Revenuers are on the lookout for our still. How can we deceive them about our movements? Strap these wooden blocks on our shoes. They'll leave cow prints behind us.

Makes me think of all the stories of people fleeing/confusing the enemy in medieval days by putting the horseshoes on their horses backwards so it would make it look like you were going towards someplace instead of away from it.

@gussiebuns that would never work. Take a look at the way a hoof print is made in mud. Were the shoes on backwards you would be able to see something wrong, not only from the relative depth of the front and rear edges, but also the "toe" of the hoof would leave a print.

IIRC one use of cow shoes was among cattle thieves. Anybody looking for the missing cows it would find only cow's prints.

Border reivers (who also stole cattle among other things) were also alleged to have used them. That would be back in the 12th century, some time before prohibition.